Brand New Day
by peachylicious
Summary: After surviving a devastating event, two strangers, Edward and Bella, come together and experience a second chance at life. Bonded by tragedy, they attempt to restore their lives but it's not without complications. AU. AH.


**Plot:** After surviving a devastating event, two strangers, Edward and Bella, come together and experience a second chance at life. Bonded by tragedy, they attempt to restore their lives but it's not without complications.

**BELLA POV**

A tornado watch in the midwest was as common as catching Courtney Stodden making a ridiculous face. Basically, it happened often, but out of all those watches, a handful produced an actual tornado. In fact, I lived in this town since childhood and never experienced or heard of a tornado touching down here. Until today.

The day started out normal. Woke up, showered, skipped breakfast and regretted it later, went to work, came home and turned on the TV to see the news interrupting normal broadcasting to announce that the severe thunderstorm warning had to turned into a tornado watch. Which simply meant conditions were favorable for tornadoes, but there were no reports of a touchdown or rotating clouds.

Around 4pm, an hour after getting off work, the sky darkened and the clouds swelled and emptied buckets of rain that splattered against the windows and pounded the roof. Not unusual for Spring weather. It'd probably be sunny in an hour.

With the recent tornado outbreaks, it was plain stupid to ignore the warnings, but honestly, I felt as though this town was immune. Even if a tornado did stop by for a quick visit, what chance was there that it'd slam into my house? And if it did, I was screwed.

I lived in the only house without a basement in this one stop-light town. It was also one of the smallest and oldest. The houses surrounding it were built within the last 10 years and were at least twice as big. The town used to be nothing but open land with scattered barns and farm houses, which were eventually torn down. Then the population increased and new houses popped up all over the place, all around this run-down poor excuse of a house. It was the outcast. Peeling paint, a porch step that wobbled when stepped on, a door with a busted screen and spider webs in every exterior corner. I'd get rid of them, but I was terrified of spiders. And too lazy.

As the wind slammed against the house, I went into the kitchen and opened the refrigerator door. Half a cup of milk, soggy cucumbers, a carton of eggs and one cheese stick. It was time to go shopping. I closed the fridge and opened the freezer. It was even less bare. I opened the fridge again. Just as it was 5 seconds ago.

The cabinets were filled with ramen noodles and canned ravioli bought in 2008. It didn't seem very appetizing, or healthy. So I picked up the car keys and headed outside, where it looked like an apocalypse was taking place.

Despite being a little after 4 in the afternoon, it was almost pitch black. I could barely see through the heavy rain, and after I nearly tripped on that loose porch step, my foot landed in a puddle of water that splashed up to my ankles and soaked my socks. Not wanting to mope in the rain, I ran to the car and dashed inside. Beads of water fell from the tips of my hair and dripped onto my shoulders as I started the car. I glanced into the rearview mirror and frowned. I was completely drenched. Outside for no more than 10 seconds and already soaked.

I pulled out of the driveway safely and headed for the local grocery store. I didn't typically go there. It was small and much more expensive than the big corporation grocery chains I normally went to, but I didn't feel like driving 20 miles just pick up dinner.

Fortunately there wasn't much traffic and I survived the three minute trip. After parking, I ducked my head and ran inside. From what I could see, there were three other patrons, one cashier and one employee stocking the shelves.

As long as I lived in this town, I still barely knew anyone. I didn't attend the local schools. I went to the bigger district a couple towns over, to the private school. All my friends were from there and that's where I spent all my time socializing. The only time I was home was when I had to sleep. And since my grandparents, my former legal guardians, were elderly, they didn't go out and make friends here either. After my grandfather passed away and my grandmother was diagnosed with terminal cancer, she made a will and left the house to me, as it had already been paid off. Even though I didn't understand it, she really adored the house and wanted to keep it in the family. So I accepted it and stayed after she passed.

All five heads turned in my direction, curious expressions on their faces. I didn't recognize any of them, and the same could be said for 99 percent of the towns population, somewhere around 1,850 people. Whether or not they knew of me was unknown. It was a small town, so I was sure there was some gossip about me. Perhaps I was the town loner. It was better than being the town pervert.

I quietly grabbed a basket and ignored the stares. Tonight was perfect for something that didn't require a stove or microwave, since the power was bound to go out. I picked out items to make a decent sandwich and hurried toward the register.

A tall blonde woman was standing in front of me, talking to the cashier as if they were best friends. The cashier was tiny with cropped short dark hair and abnormally large eyes. She chatted and scanned, seeming to forget about my existence.

I glanced behind me, where the other employee was removing cans from a box on the floor and placing them neatly on the shelves. He was young, maybe late teens or early twenties. Wavy blond hair, slender and average height. A costumer was standing in his aisle, reading labels on items. She was slightly more mature looking than everyone else in the store and had a bulging belly while the rest of her body was thin. The other shopper was noisy and shouted into his phone as he listed the different brands of potato chips to an unknown person. He was huge. Muscular with dark hair and pale skin.

I turned my attention back to the front of the store as the door opened and the bell dinged. A county sheriff's deputy stepped inside, his hair flatted by the rain.

The cashier smiled at him. "Deputy Cullen! Good afternoon, what brings you here?"

"We got reports of a tornado on 42," he replied.

As if on cue, sirens screeched from behind him, and within seconds, the lights flickered off and on. His gaze shot to me as I swallowed thickly. A tornado? Here? He looked away and stepped deeper inside the store. Wind howled and the lights turned off again. This time, they didn't come back on. The loud man stopped talking into his phone and the silence inside was overwhelming.

Shoes squeaked on the floor and the sound moved toward the large window beside the door. The stocker's body blocked most of my view and I watched as he leaned closer and pressed his finger tips against the glass and peered in every direction. The wind grew louder and louder until it sounded like a fright train was right on top of us. I held my breath. The worker jumped back from the window seconds before a dark object flew past and another object crashed directly into the window, shattering the glass.

"Get back! Get Back!" Someone shouted.

Screams rang in my ears and people rushed past me. I gasped and walked backwards until I tripped and landed on the floor, dropping my basket of food. I couldn't see a thing. Shards of glass slipped beneath my hands and my back pressed against a shelf. Suddenly, someone reached down and grabbed my arm and pulled me to my feet.

"Come on," I heard hear him say. It was the deputy's voice.

We ran toward the back of the store, to the storage area, as the building literally tore apart. I knew there was no front part of the store anymore. I could feel it.

We all cuddled together inside the cramped storage room, people on top of people, unable to hear anything other than the brutal force of the tornado as it stripped the store away, brick by brick. A chilly draft surrounded us. Rain pelted our faces. The roof was ripping open. Boxes and glasses crashed onto us, cutting into our skin. Wind whipped strands of hair around our heads, making each lash feel like a knife slicing across my cheeks. We were going to die. This was it. This was the last moment of my life. Surrounded by strangers, feeling their bodies pressed against mine as we lay huddled together, our arms covering our heads. Various things hitting and digging into our hands and arms. I was going to die.

After what seemed like hours later, but what was in fact mere minutes, the wind died down. We could hear each other, hear the screams, hear the ragged breaths escaping from our heaving chests. I opened my eyes and slowly slid my arms off of my head. When I looked up, I could see the sky. Still dark but lighter than before. The walls were caved in, practically falling on us. Nothing was left on the shelves, which also crashed onto us. Liquid from busted bottles dripped off the broken shelves.

Slightly underneath me was the cashier. She moved and pressed her arm to her chest, clasping onto her bloodied wrist. The deputy was practically on top of me but slid away when he realized the tornado was gone. Blood trickled down his forehead. The others were catching their breaths and coming to the realization that we were alive. Concerned voices asked if we were okay. And we were. We were injured, every single one of us. But we were alive. The one thing I never thought could happen to this town finally did. And I survived.

Then the condition of my grandparents' beloved house plagued my mind. If it had been hit and I had stayed there, I surely would've died. There was no way that house would even have it's foundation. I looked around at the strange faces. Was it fate I was here? Did I narrowly escape death? The answer to that was obvious, but did I leave the house just in time? And who were these people? Realizing I could've died today, I felt myself wanting to know them, wanting to know this town, wanting to finally be part of a community.

**Just a short introduction. Please review.**

**Also, Courtney Stodden is a teenage girl that married a 51 year old actor and is known for making hilarious faces that she thinks is sexy, but they make her look like she's having an acid trip.**


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